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In the international day
for human rights…backwardness of human rights are continuous
World is celebrating the 54th memory of the international announcement of human rights. Congratulation words are issued in governments and international organisations for the occasion. The announcement assured that the world, starting from 10th of December 1948, is a world of justice, equality, and safety. Land Centre for Human Rights (LCHR) has issued a report about “position of democracy and human rights in Egypt and the world” that includes three parts.
The first part is about democracy position in the world after incidents of 11th of September 2001 in New York. The biggest power of the world declared a war against terrorism in order to minimise the role of UN and other international organisations in handling international crisis for the sake of WTO, World Bank, and international monetary fund.
The report explains in that part the new role of international organisations, and how war affected democracy, human rights, and civil liberties in the world. A stream of foreigners’ hatred arose, refugees positions declined, and rulers in many countries turned to be politically and socially tyrant. That part also shows the result of some wars, other reasons of Iraqi crisis, and exponential violence against opposition of World Bank.
In the course of these incidents, new legislations against human rights are issued everyday in USA and some countries of the European union, as well as developing countries.
Thus, we are living in a New World where legal violation of civil and political rights occurs for all people either in the north or in the south.
Globalisation is now wearing its war uniform and repeating its slogan “no sound gets higher than the sound of our war against terrorism”
Second part of the report is about human rights in Egypt. According to reports of human rights’ violations, execution verdicts are applied in Egypt after unfair trials made in exceptional courts such as military or state security courts whose verdicts are not to be appealed.
Hundreds of prisoners in Egypt are tortured and ill-treated, and Egyptian authorities refuses to apply any of the measures essential to mutilate all these practices in police departments and detention camps.
Torture victims belong to different careers and environments, and include women, youth, and old people. The poor are of course the most exposed to human rights’ violation, and many are afraid of revenge in case they tell about their torture.
Nevertheless, hundred thousands of torture complaints presented to Egyptian authorities are not investigated. Egyptian organisations of human rights kept giving the authorities again and again recommendations and detailed reports about torture combating, but they are mostly ignored.
In addition, there are violations of the right to liberty of opinion, the right to form parties, syndicates, organisations, and newspapers. There are also violations of the right to demonstrations and safety. Emergency law is active since 1967 till now except for 18 months starting from 15th of June 1981 till 6th of October 1982. Emergency law turned to be the real constitution of the country instead of the original one. The position is getting worse everyday, especially after the rise of anti-democratic wave initiated by the war against terrorism.
Third part of the report is a trial to put a spotlight on domestic work’s nationalisation law no. 84 of 2002. That law gives the authorities the right to severely interfere with the activities of any association and that will deprive that association of its independence. That law copes with other laws issued or to be issued in order to put constraints on liberty. The international position is now giving the governments’ policy a great power.
The report ends with many recommendations. The most important one is to work on applying measures of forming a democratic atmosphere such as: -
First: emergency law must be cancelled. It should not be used, unless in a real state of war and big crisis. In such cases it should be used for a limited period that can not be renewed unless under specific conditions. Military ruler’s authorities should be determined accurately in order to prevent abusing of emergency law to violate basic rights of citizens. Legislative shortage should be treated by canceling prisons’ fellowship to ministry of interior affairs, and granting the prisoners the right to suit those who torture them directly, and not through state security deputies.
Second: liberty and basic rights of citizens should be guaranteed by cancelling law no. 100 of 1993. Among those rights come the right to liberty of faith, the right to practice religious ceremonies freely, and the right to liberty of opinion, and the right of syndicates to practice its activities. Texts of the unified law of labour should be reformed in order to stop violation of labourers’ rights to employment, proper payment, vacations, and protection against unconditioned firing. In addition, civil law paragraphs cancelled by the republican decree no. 384 should be reactivated in order to provide the right to form domestic associations, and cancelling all laws that affect human rights.
Third: constitution should guarantee judicial independence, and facilitate suiting measures. Exceptional courts such as state security courts should be cancelled, and handling civil cases in military courts should be stopped.
Fourth: governments must be committed to stop its practices that violate the right to employment, proper living standard, health care, food, clothes, housing, and education of all Egyptian citizens.
LCHR realises that these recommendations are not to be fulfilled at once. Such a work needs persistent continuous efforts to be done by all parties and democratic forces in society.
It is not that easy anyway to implement these recommendations. There should be a co-organised work to be participated in by civil society activists, and anti-globalisation and anti-capitalism forces. This should, in some way or the other, give us an opportunity to improve the position of democracy and human rights in Egypt. We must recollect our forces to face that situation in Egypt for a safe fair society.
It is time to co-operate and co-ordinate our work as civil society organisations with labour syndicates and political parties. Hesitation or retreat has no place in the current situation.
LCHR hopes to reach solidarity of all active and democratic forces for the sake of a more fair and safe world